A Painted Doll and A Green-Eyed Monster
by lrhaboggle
Summary: June and Cora turn their backs on each other but they take the final fall together, bound forever by their strange love.


"A Green-Eyed Monster," Cora snorted angrily, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall from bright blue eyes. June had given her this cruel name just a few minutes ago because, during yet another one of their arguments, Cora had expressed distaste for the man June was currently courting. Admittedly, part of the distaste did come from jealousy, but hearing June spell it out and then give her such a mocking title had been a little more than painful. Besides, as far as Cora was concerned, she had every right to be this way! June had been with her first and she had loved June for far longer than Agent ever had. So was Cora jealous? Yes. Yes she was. But did June have to make fun of her for it and pretty much trivialize her feelings? No. No she didn't. But she did and Cora was still angry, storming back off to the applicant floor as June's cruel remark looped endlessly in her mind.

What Cora didn't know, however, was that June wasn't faring much better. Although June genuinely had not seen what was so wrong about flirting with both Cora and Agent at the same time, Cora had said something to her that sent her blood boiling with anger and hurt.

"A Painted Doll! That was what she called me!" the blond snarled to herself as she ran in the opposite direction of Cora. Yes. As strange as a nickname as that was, it was all Cora could think of in such a heated moment. But the longer the name sat in June's brain, the more sense it made. Perhaps it wasn't as traditional as "green-eyed monster" but Cora's rationale had been as such: a painted doll was someone who put on a mask and pretended to be far better than they actually were. If that didn't describe June, especially in the way she was treating her two lovers, then nothing would. So the name, as strange as it sounded, did have a ring of truth in it and that was what was eating June. She didn't take kindly to criticism, especially when it was given in such a nasty manner, especially when it came from a friend. This made her a hypocrite but she was too concerned with herself to see this. Instead, after silently cursing the girl who had called her a painted doll, June gave a stubborn toss of her hair and continued on her way. She was going to see Agent and there was nothing Cora or anyone else could do about it!

But while June was out on her little affair with Agent, Cora was angrily getting ready for bed. The other applicants in her dorm could feel the anger radiating off of her and when they realized that her best friend, June, wasn't with her, they understood at once what had happened. Whispers and gossip started up pretty quickly but they did have the sense not to say anything to Cora. It was clear that the brunette needed her space. So while the other girls went through their routines like normal, the brunette behind them continued to stew in anger. A painted doll and a green-eyed monster, a sinner of lies and a sinner of envy. What an awful pair to be. No wonder their fights had been increasing in number!

Cora suddenly felt some of her anger turn to shame and she heaved a sigh. She really did hate it when she and June fought. Slowly, the girl made an agreement with herself. Tomorrow morning, she would get June alone and the two of them would talk out their problems until their friendship had been restored. Cora wouldn't let some bluenose with plastic hair get in between her and June if she could help it. They may have been painted doll and green-eyed monster, but they, as far as Cora was concerned, still cared deeply for each other!

"Either way," the girl decided as she crawled into her bed, the one to her right still empty. "It won't do any good, getting into a frenzy!" then she turned off the lights and, with the other applicants in the room, fell asleep.

"The library!" Cora screamed at once, in a total frenzy. Just moments ago, Heaven's alarm system had gone off. The other applicants also woke up, afraid for themselves and each other. Through the flashing red lights, Cora could see fear and confusion written upon every single face in the dorm and she knew her face mirrored theirs.

"What is it? What's going on?! What's happened? Is everyone ok? Are we in trouble?" the questions flew around the room at impossible speed, spoken in frightened and high-pitched sobs. Cora fought hard to remain calm until one glaring realization hit her. The bed to her right was still empty. That was all the young girl needed to understand.

"The library!" she repeated, even more frantic than before as she jumped up out of bed. "Whatever's wrong, it's coming from the library!" she said for a third time. The other girls looked at her with open mouths, stunned by her courage. None of them wanted to get up and face whatever might be wrong. Cora, however, had already sprinted from the dorm room. She didn't expect the others to follow her. Instead, her mind was focused only upon June and she prayed, however futile and oxymoronic it was at that point, that the girl wasn't hurt.

Suddenly, then, as Cora continued to race over to Heaven's elevator, she was aware of the sound of feet pounding behind her. Frightened, the girl chanced a look over her shoulder and pure shock was what washed over her when she realized who was chasing her. It was the applicants. All of them. Both male and female, the applicants were all running behind her as one body with her at the head. Despite the surprise of them coming along after all, and it was especially surprising that the men were joining because they hadn't been around to hear Cora explain where the noise was coming from, Cora felt her face warm. There was just something so comforting about hearing all of those feet pounding after her. There was something so touching about knowing that every single one of them had come after her after all. They were supporting her, following her. They weren't making her do this alone. Such a realization gave Cora a burst of strength and, in a voice very unlike her normally shy and soft one, she cried out to them all.

"This way!" and they followed her without hesitation.

What she didn't know, however, was that the applicants had not come along just to offer support. Instead, most of them had only come out of fright. That wasn't to say they felt no love for their fellow applicant, on the contrary, all of them quite liked and respected Cora just because she seemed so sweet and she had a very level head. That was just to say that, in this particular moment in time, they were only following Cora because she was radiating strength and knowledge and they, frightened and confused, were drawing on her strength. They weren't coming after Cora _to_ help, they were coming after Cora _for_ help. They needed her guidance so, without hesitation, every single one of them ran after her. It was like watching ducklings follow their mother. They weren't necessarily doing it out of affection, it was just in their instinct to follow around the strongest person in the area and, in this moment, that just so happened to be Cora. So together, the crowd raced on until they reached the elevator. Once everyone was inside, as cramped as a ride it was, Cora hit the call button for Heaven's library and they all rode upwards in silence.

At last, the group reached the library. What met their eyes, however, was more than they could bear and most of them, Cora included, turned away in sheer horror. June was being beaten mercilessly by the Translators. The alarms had since been shut off so that made the sound of truncheons breaking bones and the agonized scream of the victim all the more audible.

"JUNE!" Cora managed to sob her friend's name before taking a step forward. "Stop it!" she demanded of the Translators. Amazingly, the Translators obeyed. For just a moment, they backed off, but now their sharp eyes were pointed at Cora. Uh oh.

"What was that, love?" Batez sneered. Cora forced herself to repeat what she'd just said.

"Please, please, don't hurt her," she whimpered, terrified. She ignored the warning looks her peers gave her as she tried to stand tall. Again, she begged for June's release and demanded that they stop hurting her so terribly for such a petty crime. It wasn't like June had hurt anyone, right?

"Questioning our translations?" Batez asked in her quirky voice that, in this moment, was the most terrifying sound in the world.

"That's a translation!" Bentz agreed, head and jaw both bobbing as he nodded and continued to chew on his gum. It would've been funny had both of them not been covered in June's blood with June mere feet behind them, nothing but a sobbing and twitching mess. "Ya heard it?"

"I heard it!" Batez said. Cora didn't even have time to blink before she had been thrown on top of June, added to the pile without a thought.

"Wait! Wait! No! Please don't! Stop!" Cora wept in blind terror, June could only groan in pain as Cora landed on her. The brunette turned her eyes wildly up to her fellow applicants, the ones who had followed her so faithfully through the halls despite the safest option being to stay in bed. They, however, turned away, too afraid for their own lives to reach out. Cora understood the feeling but when not a single one of them would even look at her, she felt her heart sink in dread.

"We got ourselves a painted doll and a green-eyed monster here, whadday say we do to 'em?" Bentz grinned wickedly.

"We translate em!" his wife replied gleefully. "We beat the lies outta the one until she learns that deception ain't got no place here and then we flog the defiance outta the other one. She'll get her turn and then she won't have nothing to be jealous of!" she raised her baton and Bentz did likewise.

The applicants all watched in silent horror, not even daring to cry or cover their eyes and ears, as their comrades were mercilessly beaten in front of them. The Translators, kicking, punching and striking did not stop for a single second while June and Cora were hardly able to tell each other apart in their mad bid to escape the endless rain of agony descending upon them. At one point, Cora felt an agonizing pain in her eyes unlike anything she had ever experienced before but the whole world was in such a blur, she had no idea what was going on. All she could do was scream as she and June both continued to writhe violently on the floor, bodies totally tangled such that Cora had no idea which broken and bloody arm was hers and which was June's. It was a nightmarish five minutes that felt longer than eternity itself.

At last, however, the beatings finally, blessedly, mercifully ended. The punishment was not over yet, but the constant rain of fury from the Translators and their batons was. That was enough for now. Neither girl struggled at all as they were both dragged out of the library by their hair. The whole room was totally silent, the applicants still not even daring to turn their heads as June and Cora were taken away. Instead, they continued to stare at the spot where the two girls had been tortured, a large puddle of blood being all that remained. A few of the applicants who stood closest to the puddle of blood thought they saw what looked like teeth, bone splinters and torn skin and hair lying in that puddle, but nobody cared to try and look closer. Instead, they only stared silently, totally expressionless from sheer shock, as June and Cora were sent to Hell.

Next time Cora woke up, as she had passed out from pain sometime after being thrown into the Hell-bound elevator but sometime before the elevator began to descend, she was in a dark room. She moved slightly, feeling a surge of agony run through her. She moaned.

"Cora?" a weak, scratchy voice asked in reply to her groan.

"June?" Cora asked, voice just as strained and hoarse. Cora felt June grasp her arm as silent gesture of thanks and Cora returned it. The pair held each other in silent fear as their injures continued to throb. Neither girl dared make a noise. What was going to happen now?

"Speak of devils and they do appear," a deep voice boomed softly.

"Lucifer!" June gasped.

"Is it really him?" Cora whispered weakly. "How can you tell? It's too dark in here."

"Cora," June's voice cracked. "Your eyes…" she couldn't go on, whether from pain or sorrow, Cora didn't know. Instead, as her words sank in, Cora ran a hand over her eyes. There was nothing there. The Translators must've clawed them out. In the back of her mind, Cora remembered that sharp, sudden pain in her eyes and how she had been unable to see much else after that particular attack.

"We will fix you," Lucifer replied, voice smooth but firm as Cora lowered her hand with a sob. Cora had to admit that being helped by the Devil didn't sound any more fun than what she and June had just been through but, just like back then, Cora didn't have much of a say in the matter…

Cora didn't recall falling asleep, but she must have because she found herself waking up again. This time, she was on a dingy little mattress in what appeared to be an old, tattered tent. Through a very dim light, she could see a dirt floor and a few other odds and ends scattered upon that floor. Some of those odds and ends looked like costume pieces while others looked like makeup tools while others still looked like body parts. Cora swallowed the bile that rose in her throat as she noticed that last part. She turned her attention to the fraying tent flaps. They were closed so she had no idea what lay beyond them. Given how disgusting and gross everything in here was, though, she wasn't sure she wanted to know. A vague scent of decay lingered over the whole area and Cora shivered. It was so cold.

Suddenly, then, the tent flap opened and the woman that greeted her frightened Cora into a perfect silence. She limped in, covered in blood and what looked like black paint. Her white dress and hair were stained and torn and the whole left half of her face was cracked open. Cora thought she might be sick. Was this to be her tormentor? She certainly had a hellish look. But then the strange visitor spoke and Cora nearly fainted again.

"Hey, Cora," the woman said. It was June. Cora almost hadn't recognized her, so mutilated and wounded was she.

"June?" the brunette could only stare as June limped over. The closer she got, the more paint Cora could see smeared onto her injured face.

"I'm sure I'm hideous as Hell," June joked and Cora couldn't help but agree. As June joined her on the tiny mattress, Cora could see every crack in her face and every splotch of makeup and paint that June had used to try and fix it. If anything, the makeup was done so poorly that June looked even worse. Cora then realized that June left eye was bright blue. That wasn't right! Somewhere in the back of her mind, Cora realized that June must've lost an eye too. Cora cringed sympathetically, familiar with the pain.

"You're not that beautiful yourself, you know," June spat finally and she sounded so bitter Cora couldn't tell if she was serious or joking. Before she could ask, June tossed her a mirror and Cora recoiled at her own reflection too. She wasn't as ugly as June, but she had her own strange scars. They ran up and down every inch of her and even though she didn't suffer the same massive facial wound June did, she was still pretty messed up. What really caught her off guard, though, were her eyes. It was not the red gnashes around them or the fact that they seemed sunken in. It was not how fake or narrow they seemed. It was the color. They were a bright, scaly, almost-glowing green. Cora turned to June and though the look June gave her was emotionless, Cora somehow knew they were both thinking the same thing. _A Painted Doll and A Green-Eyed Monster._

 **AN: AU where Cora falls with June and they become the insults they had once used against each other (despite "painted doll" not being a phrase the way "green-eyed monster" is). I hope you liked this. I just wanted to write a fic where Cora comes with June though I think her denial in the original film was far better because it was far more believable and tragic. Mostly, I just wanted more Cora because I relate to her on so many levels. Also, that point about her leading the applicants to the library, I do genuinely imagine it playing out that she wants to save June and the others come along because they want to be in her powerful presence because I like the idea that Cora actually can be a very influential person, it's just her natural shyness that prevents her from doing so. And I just like the image of Cora leading an army to save June because that's pretty much what happened. I want to see the library scene from Cora's POV honestly. And imagine how awkward and tense (and cramped) that elevator ride up must've been for the applicants and it would've been even funnier if it had the cheesy elevator music cliché. LOL. Oh, and don't forget that they were all storming Heaven's halls in their PJs.**


End file.
